PS In May 2019, I will be moving to a new web address. I’m shifting to a personal domain and I’m so, so excited for you to see it! Buying my domain is giving me so much more freedom for new features, design, and I can’t wait for you to get started there.

But on the downside, all those of you who’ve subscribed to my blog here WILL NOT be notified of new posts anymore. I’d hate for you to miss out just because I’ve shifted addresses, but WordPress doesn’t offer anything to straighten this out.

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Thank you so much for all your support. ❤

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Thank you so much. I truly appreciate the gesture, though I don’t think I’ll be able to put a post up to ‘formally’ accept the award. You are free, of course, to nominate another blogger, if you want to. Thank you for thinking of me. ❤

This is the third work I’ve read of yours, Natalie, and the last one I will have time for tonight.

I think most poets tell the truth as they see it.

I think some fewer can do it with grace and beauty.

And I think a relative handful can speak the truth in grace and beauty while being honest.

You put me in mind of the poets who can do the latter such thing.

You are like that woman – one of a few — who I once knew and who made me want to take sides with a mammoth to bring her his tusks so that she would have some token from me for all the worlds she had shown me in herself, shown me through herself.

I’m too old to fetch tusks these days for the men and women who help me see further and better — but I have here on my desk seven Lifesavers, and one of them is my favorite flavor, cherry. You can have them all. All of them stringless, no-obligation tokens of my appreciation for the truth, the grace, the beauty, and the honesty of your gifts to the world, and to me tonight.

Exactly. It never ceases to amaze me, how warped and twisted our memories become with time. I think the only thing we are capable of remembering accurately are our emotions, and let’s face it, those aren’t the most stable of foundations to build your history on…

Haha, thank you. I think that’s my worst fear these days: that I’ve reached a sort of limit to create. Have you ever had moments where the words itself start to lose their magic, their power; and each one feels like it’s just a string of letters, one after another?

Listen… with the pen, the mind, the energy, and the universe that you’ve got… all you got to do is lie there and breathe. It’s that good. And I’m a damn picky reader. Dickens still has yet to be beat, but you’re right on his feet. Only, yours is non-fiction and poetry and, as much as I love you Dickens, you better run.

A comforting thought: that you can only bring to life the words that have already been written out for you. There’s neither blame nor pride in that. Only the welcome toil of churning out one word after another.
I might just steal that philosophy of yours.

You steal it. Go ahead. It’s not mine either and the words it brings to you it wants heard. Toil and churn in solitude with the gods and the ferns and whatever else… the universe is always there to keep you company. Speaking to you, word by word, letter by letter: speaking to us.

The desire to be immortal snuffs out the poet’s attempt to make it so. For some reason – and I’m not quite sure why – I think of Beckett here. The absurdity in the desire/compulsion; the recognition of it; and yet the necessity of the follow through and so, a return to where it started, the contemplation of the absurdity and the compulsion and how it complicates/inhibits the act. Now, I think of Eliot: Between the conception … and the response … falls the shadow. And how difficult it is to make a mark now in an age of such profusion, an oberabundance of words and an infinite blank screen on which to write them. The universe expands and we become lost amongst all the stars. Yet, still the need and the compulsion, the must do, can’t do, must do, can do – again again, on and on – until we can’t and so – don’t… Nice work.

I know you said Old Woody to Anna, I know you well…. you are my beautiful sister and I thank you for gracing me with your ‘follow’ on our brand new blog birthed about 22 hours ago. Last time I poetry lasso’ed me was through Anna and Fynn, I explain here https://christasus.blog/2015/07/04/woodys-words-to-anna/ Peace ☮️🍇🕊❤️

I like your story on many levels. Coincidentally, I have been reading about Parallel universes and how we can exist in more ways than one. I am a very new blogger navigating this new world. A huge learning curve, although fun. Thank you for make me stop and think. Erica

Wow!!! What a stunningly awesome post!!! I love your title and have that thought often myself. Especially, these days with my three score and ten approaching at the end of the month!! Really a super!!!
Bellisimo, Natalie, Bellisimo!!
xoxoxo

Another superbly elegant piece. The “cackling” paper is a stroke of descriptive genius. I will note that “The paper cackles as I crush it, laughing at me.” might sound better with “mocking” in place of “laughing at.” Also “Like a cold squall of wind could hiss my way, and I’ll be gone, only two sets of nails and thirty-four teeth swirling in a spiral down to the ground.” I’ would remove “like” and change “I’ll” to “I’d”: “A cold squall of wind could hiss my way, and I’d be gone…” Also, while I’m talking about this line, I think it’s great – direct, physical, atmospheric, and slightly esoteric, with the specific, numbered references to teeth and nails. I hope these comments serve you well.

First off, thank you so much for such a constructive comment! I’m truly grateful that I have readers like you around here. ❤
Oooh, I'm loving the "mocking me", though I can't believe I didn't think of it. Definitely a bit jealous. 😉
I love the other change you've suggested as well, I feel it would help heighten the evocative aspect of the piece, and I'll update it shortly.
Its surprising that such small tweaks can transform how that line reads, isn't it?
I just hope I can learn to identify these changes myself, before I publish, though I guess I'll never be able to replace having a reader's perspective.

Natalie…. Beautiful as ever…. Going into oblivion is a fear all of us have deep within us… Though it’s a fear it can bring out the best in us that can not be matched with time or let’s say travel through eons of time in the form of art, music or a post like yours….

I’m very glad you are here. Tonight… I became glad that I am here also. I’m etching the proof that I was here by leaving this comment. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to linger in your words. However… I am wondering… if perhaps… when I press the “post comment” button… my laptop might cackle.

Nice! Reminds me that within my creative life I’ve found it helpful to remember “focus on what you’re doing instead of how well you’re doing it.”. Helps me to just “get it done” – I can tweak it later. What matters is that we keep going!

Thank gods I found you again. I was so stressed when the darkest tunnel was gone! Your poems really touched my heart and brought alot of feelings to me. Thank you for making things better again! ^_^ To become part of the wood, to live through it. Nicely written! Never have I felt the fear of disappearing without a trace, maybe I should start leaving marks! XD

Haha, thank you so much! Really touched you feel that way ❤
And I have a feeling I'm here to stay, so you'll definitely be seeing me around for a while. I truly appreciate the support, thank you so much for that. This comment just made my day ❤

Loved it, you really know how to bring the reader in and feel exactly what you intend them to. Nice, it made my wheels turn and want to rehash any old emotions i have locked and put away in the corners of my mind. But if I go searching for it… I don’t think I’d like what i would find. The past is just that and I put all of it away to save my sanity. I don’t think I could handle all of the bad thing that has been done to me.. See you have me blogging in your comments.. Great job

Mmm that was such a beautiful piece.
Especially that last line: “The meanest flower that blows can give- thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
For some reason, it really struck a chord in me…

hi again-’tis a… new approach. My Ways and Training are not so socially adept at these Times and Places. Yet and much. Is appreciated. So you should know. What you write. You write well as. As well as any of Our World Legends. Till next…

Good morning, Natalie. This is powerful stuff, and captures something innate to all of us, the desire to leave a mark, to be remembered. You speak in your bio of “blurring the lines;” here in the age of instant publishing, many writers speak of their “special skills” without actually demonstrating them. This is as perfect a demonstration of the art as I’ve seen in a good long time, and I thank you for sharing it with us.

As I sit by my mom’s bedside awaiting her imminent death, this writing you offer today is a deep insight – mom’s feeling too.
“I feel like a mirage, as if I’m made of smoke, fading into nothingness.”
Your writing is a lovely expression of our bodily mortality.

That really means a lot to me, Jandvig. I can’t possibly imagine what you must be going through and I really hope my piece was of little comfort to you, if any. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and share your thoughts here ❤

I felt this one all the way to my bones. Being forgotten is one of my deepest, worst fears, and this piece captures the feeling perfectly. Thank you so much for pushing through the bad days and letting your own work it’s magic like this!

You’re going to love

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